For the second consecutive year, Dunn Tire is proud to participate in the City of Buffalo’s 2015 Summer Youth Internship Program. The program, which kicked off today, will provide six weeks of meaningful employment and work-readiness training to city youth this summer.

“My annual Summer Youth Internship Program is critically important to our continued effort to ensure that our young people have productive, healthy options for summer activities that prepare them for the jobs of the future,” said Mayor Brown. “This program matches youth with area employers in their field of interest and also provides work-readiness training jobs to further prepare our young people. Today I invite private sector companies to join our effort by providing additional employment opportunities to Buffalo teens.”

Dunn Tire Human Resources Director Bill Cleary said it is very important to give city youth workplace experience. In fact, last year Joy Anderson interned at Dunn Tire and is now a full-time employee. “They liked me, so I got to spend the rest of the year working there,” said Anderson.

Buffalo Youth interested in applying for Summer Jobs can download an application at http://www.city-buffalo.com or pick one up at Buffalo City Hall in room 1701. Mayor Brown’s Summer Youth Applications must be returned by Friday, May 1, 2015.

To be eligible for this program you must be a City of Buffalo resident between the ages of 14 and 21 and you must turn age 14 by May 1, 2015.

Does your car battery have enough power to continually start your engine during cold weather? Oil gets thicker at low temperatures so it takes more amps to crank a cold engine when you try to start it. Stop into any Dunn Tire location for a FREE battery life check. We’ll give you a printout of the results. Call ahead to help minimize wait time.

As a proud sponsor of Syracuse University Athletics, we are excited to give away tickets to every home lacrosse game this season. As one of the top-ranked teams in the NCAA, each Syracuse Lacrosse game is sure to be an action-packed event.

What’s better than winning free tickets to go cheer on the SU Orange to victory in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY? Be prepared to make some noise and have some fun. Simply complete the brief form below for your chance to win!

Pat Logue, Managing Director of Retail Operations for Dunn Tire, was recently interviewed for an article appearing in Tire Review: Sports Marketing: Turn Sports Fans into Your Fanatics. The article discusses some of the marketing opportunities that sporting events can offer.

In a recent report, “Year in the Sports Media Report: 2013,” Nielsen claims that more than 33 billion hours of national sports programming were consumed by 255 million people, up 27% from the 26 billion hours consumed in 2003. Consumers spend tons of time watching sports and engaging in activities surrounding those sports. That’s a lot of potential customers to reach either regionally or nationally.

While major tire manufactures are prominently sponsoring national events, sports marketing isn’t just for the tire companies; savvy tire dealers get in on the action, as well.

Buffalo-based Dunn Tire has taken full advantage of CTA’s sports investment. The Continental brand, as the official tire of the Watkins Glen International racetrack as well as the official tire of IMSA, approached Dunn Tire with an opportunity to sponsor a Michael Shank Racing car.

Michael Shank Racing branded its car with Dunn Tire logos and visited multiple Dunn Tire locations prior to the Watkins Glen IMSA event. At the race itself, Dunn Tire used its Facebook page to invite people to come take picture with the car and visit Dunn Tire at a hospitality area. Its wholesale business, Express Tire, also took advantage, inviting dealer customers to the event.

“Having a Dunn Tire car with our name on it actually racing certainly helps our overall awareness,” says Pat Logue, director of marketing for Dunn Tire. “It also gave us the opportunity to entertain both customers of the retail organization as well as customers of the wholesale organization.”

Dunn Tire also sponsors the hometown NFL Buffalo Bills, NHL Buffalo Sabres, Syracuse University and the University of Buffalo.

“When you can tie Dunn Tire to the Buffalo Bills or the Sabres or Watkins Glen, that helps your overall profile because those are great brands in and of themselves,” adds Logue.

For Dunn Tire, treating sports sponsorships as a business relationship is key. The majority of the tire business’ sports sponsorships are collaborations with tire manufacturers.

“We start a proposal with our reps well in advance of the season,” relates Logue. “It’s important to realize that the manufacturers have their priorities too as far as where they want to spend their money. It’s a lot of dialogue with your rep.”

From there, continuing the partnership is key. Logue meets with his reps every year to discuss what the manufacturer liked, didn’t like and what makes sense for the next year.

“It’s got to work for both of us. You’ll never renew it if it only works out for one of us,” adds Logue.

One example of a program that worked for both Dunn Tire and Michelin North America Inc. was a co-branded hat that Dunn Tire gave away at the Bills’ home games. Fans who received the hat could bring it into a Dunn Tire store to receive a discount on a set of Michelin tires.

When implemented successfully, regional sports marketing can be a great vehicle to increase exposure, generate awareness, engage new audiences, and ultimately drive new businesses to the stores.

This time of year, we tend to see extreme temperature drops. In fact, weather experts confirm another polar vortex is set to return this week with arctic blasts expected to hit everyone east of the Rockies. While we can bundle up with extra layers, our cars are left to fight the elements. Cold temperatures can immediately impact your tire pressure. Keep an eye for the symbol to the right – these are common alerts on your dashboard that help to keep you informed of your vehicle’s condition. If you see this indicator, you should take swift action to check and correct your tire’s air pressure.

The rule of thumb is for every 10° Fahrenheit change in air temperature, your tire’s inflation pressure will change by about 1 psi (up with higher temperatures and down with lower). In other words, if it were 40 degrees yesterday and -2 degrees today, you may experience a 4-5 psi loss in tire pressure. This may be enough to activate your low air pressure light.

Low air pressure should not be taken lightlyNot only is driving around with low tire pressure dangerous, it can damage your tires. It puts added stress on the sidewall which may cause them to wear quicker. Your goal should be to drive safely and to extend the life of your tires by maintaining proper tire pressure. You should also check the air pressure of your spare tire – so it’s ready if you need it. As always, if you have questions – please contact the nearest Dunn Tire store.